US Customs Cracked Counterfeit Goods Such As Footwear Involving More Than $200 Million In Smuggling Cases

According to Li Xinyu, Shanghai Representative Office of SSSPO, the US Customs recently cracked three counterfeit goods smuggling cases in New York and other places. The amount of the case was over 200 million dollars, and several Chinese businessmen were involved in the case.

The first case was referred to by the federal prosecutor as one of the largest counterfeit smuggling cases ever cracked by the government.

10 defendants were accused of smuggling fake brand-name garments from China and attempting to bribe them.

The goods involved were imported from Newark-Elizabeth port, exceeding 100 containers, estimated at about $200 million.

Customs investigators found jeans, sports shoes, handbags and other products in these containers. The well-known brands include Nike, Chanel, Burberry, Polo Ralph Lauren and Baby Phat.

The smugglers also bribed $500 thousand to a customs inspectors disguised as corrupt docks union officials.

After more than a year's investigation, the US Customs arrested 70 year old Michael Chu, His Feng Li, Grace Qeuzon, Yee Khiong Ting, Troy Troy, the company, the customs officer's license, and the pportation business.

Robin Huff is also accused of making use of its position to facilitate the information flow of container flow and customs verification for smuggling groups.

The two people of Chi On Wong and Man Wai Cheng were charged with providing pport services to smugglers in the case of smuggling of counterfeit goods.

Prosecutors accused the defendants of conspiring to smuggle goods to the United States, engage in illegal counterfeit products and implement the above offences.

If convicted, members of the smuggling gang will face up to 35 years' imprisonment, a fine of $2 million 400 thousand, and penalties for compensation for victims of trademark infringement.

Court documents showed that the smuggling gang used the false identification and false declaration methods to avoid the quota and customs inspection, for example, jeans were called trousers and leather shoes were rated as PVC sports shoes.

In the investigation, Zhonghai customs also found that many counterfeit Nike sports shoes were declared "frozen noodles".

It is alleged that the suspects wanted to distribute the counterfeit products to retail outlets in the Brooklyn and Queens areas of New York instead of selling them to street vendors.

There were 6 defendants in second cases, including a Chinese surnamed Sam Wang ("Hwa Shan Wang"), four Middle East clothing merchants, and a Chinese surnamed CAI (Colin Tsai, also known as Chang-Yeh Tsai) in the freight forwarding industry.

The value of imported counterfeit garments is reportedly worth several million dollars.

In the indictment, the US prosecutors claimed that the defendants imported counterfeit brand clothing from China between August 2003 and November 2007, selling them in downtown New York and other areas, and engaged in money laundering activities.

Wang is responsible for making counterfeit garments in China and selling them to the United States.

It is estimated that the value of counterfeit garments shipped to the United States in the past few years has exceeded US $19 million 700 thousand.

The defendants Hussein Nasser and associates have at least 3 clothing stores in Manhattan, including Crown Ambassador Trading Company, Broadway 1171, Jeanius 1157 and Sweat-N-Tee 146 of Fifth Avenue.

They receive fake garments made by Wang and sell them to wholesalers and retailers through these stores.

Tsai Mou, who is in California, is responsible for arranging the pportation and distribution of smuggling counterfeit products.

Third cases were also cracked by customs law enforcement officers in New York and other places.

The US Customs has arrested 4 businessmen in New York, New Jersey and Texas for alleged illegal trade in counterfeit goods and bribing government officials.

The US Customs investigation of the smuggling group began in May 2005 and some operations were undercover.

According to reports, a undercover Customs police pretended to be able to make the counterfeit smuggling product container pass smoothly. The smugglers paid him over $140 thousand to bribe customs officers.

In order to win the trust of smuggling group, customs officers allow undercover officers to let some smuggled products go smoothly.

According to the investigation, the clothing brands illegally copied and imported include Akademiks Marithe Francois Girbaud Apple Bottoms Nike Baby Phat Pepe Enyce Pepe, Pakistan, China and other places, from New Jersey's port or New York J.F.Kennedy.Apt Airport to customs clearance.

In addition to us customs officials, the three law enforcement officers involved in the above cases also included law enforcement officers from various federal agencies in New Jersey, New York and the Federal Bureau of investigation and Drug Control Bureau.

In addition, it is alleged that Louis Vuitton, Cartier and other victimized companies in addition to cooperate with law enforcement officers to crack down on smuggling and trading of counterfeit goods, further measures are taken to monitor the rampant sales of counterfeit products such as Canal street and Queens in New York, so as to curb the flow of counterfeit products.

According to Li Xinyu lawyer, the US government has always believed that international terrorist groups are involved in the illegal trading of counterfeit goods and use their earnings to finance international terrorist activities.

Among the defendants are the Middle East and South Asian immigrants, which may have some subtle effects on the trial of the above cases and the psychology of the jury.